A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

She Stoops to Comedy

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  3w, 3m

An actress (played by a man) schemes to woo back her estranged female lover by playing Orlando opposite her lovers’ Rosalind in this gender-bending romp by one of New York's most innovative writer/performers.

She Stoops to Comedy

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
In She Stoops to Comedy, Alexandra Page, a self-involved actress, known for her portrayals of tragic heroines, disguises herself as a man in order to play Orlando opposite her girlfriend, Alison Rose, who has been cast as Rosalind in an out-of-town production of As You Like It. Because the role of Alexandra is played by a man, her transformation does not require the use of drag. And because the other actors in the As You Like It cast are friends of Alexandra and Alison – and the “disguise” so effective – Alexandra has an opportunity to not only hear what people really think of her, but to be made privy to the inner lives of her friends and colleagues. The play examines the friendships and love relationships of its seven characters, and plays with the nature of authenticity – both on and off the stage.
History
She Stoops to Comedy was first presented by Playwrights Horizons, under artistic director Tim Sanford, as the inaugural production in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater in New York City, in April 2003. It was directed by the playwright.
ALEXANDRA PAGE - an actress, assumes the role of Harry Samson
ALISON ROSE - Alexandra’s lover, also an actress
KAY FEIN - close friend of Alexandra, an archeologist or a lighting designer
HAL STEWART- a filmmaker
EVE ADDAMAN - Hal’s girlfriend, also a filmmaker
JAYNE SUMMERHOUSE - rival to Alexandra, also an actress, she’s studying film
SIMON LANQUISH - an actor

Alexandra Page is played by an actor, not an actress. At no time in the play is that actor in drag. A cast of six. One actress plays Kay Fein and Jayne Summerhouse.

  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
  • Setting The stage of course.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Duration 90 minutes

Media

“80 minutes of near total delight… Sweeping away everything but the mind of the playwright and the ability of the actors, Greenspan creates a fiction that has the pleasure and pain of life, plus the extravagant possibilities of the imagination. He does it without apparatus, attitude, amplification, willed ugliness... It's just theater, pure and simple. What a relief.” – The Village Voice

“Great theater can be immensely entertaining, profoundly thought-provoking or artistically inventive; She Stoops to Comedy… manages all three at once. David Greenspan's brilliant, hilarious… six-actor deconstruction of a modern-day Elizabethan farce finds vitality, renewal and delight at the unlikely heart of theatrical artifice.” – The Los Angeles Times

“Within the first five minutes, it's clear that you're in for a bumpy ride. Not a ''fasten your seat belts'' kind of ride, but rather one where you're a picked up by a tornado, spun around, and dropped into a world that is different and odd and wonderful and fun. This tornado was created by playwright David Greenspan, who explores gender, sexuality and love in his inventive play… You may leave the theater a little unsure of where you've been, but you'll be happy you were there.” – Metro Weekly

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Authors

David Greenspan

David Greenspan is a New York-based playwright and actor. He has directed and/or performed in his plays Jack, The Home Show Pieces, 2 Samuel 11, Etc. at Home, Dead Mother, or Shirley Not All in Vain at the Public, She Stoops to Comedy (Obie, published by Samuel French) and G ...

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